Data Science Lead — AI/ML for Mission-Critical Ops

ECS Corporate Services; Tampa (FL); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

ECS Federal seeks a Data Scientist Lead to direct a team supporting USCENTCOM operations. You will design and operationalize advanced analytics, ML/AI, and data pipelines to empower mission decision-making for senior leaders.

The role requires TS clearance, US citizenship, and a strong background in data engineering, AI/ML frameworks, and communicating complex findings to non-technical audiences.

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Active Top Secret clearance and SCI eligibility.
• BA/BS or MA/MS in Data Science, Analytics, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• More than 10 years of relevant work experience, with leadership of data science or analytics teams.
• Proven experience capturing and managing data science requirements for senior Military, Federal Government, or Intelligence Community stakeholders.
• Expertise in AI/ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn).
• Proficiency in Python and/or R for data engineering, automation, and model development.
• Experience with ETL/ELT, data warehousing, and data lake/lakehouse architectures.
• Familiarity with Power BI, Tableau, Qlik, Palantir Foundry/MSS.
• Experience with Spark, Databricks, Hadoop and multiple databases (T-SQL, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL).
• Strong written and verbal communication; ability to brief senior leaders.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and oversight for data engineering, analytics, and predictive analytics teams.
• Lead development and deployment of advanced analytics, statistical models, data governance, and innovative tech integration.
• Apply ML/AI techniques (unsupervised, supervised, reinforcement, generative AI) to identify patterns and insights.
• Oversee data pipelines to clean, tag, and ingest data into data lakes/lakehouses.
• Direct the data science lifecycle from exploration to deployment and validation.
• Coordinate with USCENTCOM senior leaders to interpret mission needs and define data requirements.
• Serve as senior technical advisor on SQL, Python, and R for data-driven decisions.
• Translate complex findings into actionable insights for non-technical audiences and leadership.
• Manage multiple projects in a dynamic environment.

Skills

Python

R

SQL

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Scikit-learn

ETL/ELT

Data Visualization

Education

BA/BS or MA/MS in Data Science, Analytics, CS, IT

Tools

Apache Spark

Databricks

Hadoop

Power BI

Tableau

Qlik

Palantir Foundry/MSS

Job description

ECS Federal seeks a Data Scientist Lead to direct a team supporting USCENTCOM operations. You will design and operationalize advanced analytics, ML/AI, and data pipelines to empower mission decision-making for senior leaders.

The role requires TS clearance, US citizenship, and a strong background in data engineering, AI/ML frameworks, and communicating complex findings to non-technical audiences.